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Category Archives: People

The Vincent S. Dalsimer Moot Court Competition is the annual team appellate advocacy intraschool competition at Pepperdine Law. Two-person teams submit an appellate brief, followed by oral argument rounds. Students receive one unit of credit for participation, and the finalists have the opportunity to argue the final round before a distinguished panel of judges. The winning team, as well as Brief and Individual Advocacy awards, are announced at the Law School Dinner. Prize money donated by alumni is also awarded.

I am pleased to share that the final round has been set: a team of 3Ls, Scott Sasser and Matt Sessions, will compete against a team of 2Ls, Alex Farzan and Tim O’Hair. The final round will be held this afternoon in front of a large crowd of prospective students in Caruso Auditorium.

I am hosting a brown-bag lunch conversation with Professor Michael Helfand on the roles of faith, religion, and spiritual life in the law and the practice of law during the lunch hour today. I will interview Professor Helfand on his personal experience in law practice, which will be followed by an opportunity for the students to ask questions. This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to hear from a popular professor on such an important topic!

On Tuesday evening I had the pleasure of attending a scholarship dinner with one of our outstanding third-year students, Joe Spano (pictured above, second from right). The dinner was hosted by the Association of Business Trial Lawyers (“ABTL”) of Los Angeles. At the dinner, one student from five Los Angeles law schools (Pepperdine, Loyola, Southwestern, UCLA, and USC) was recognized.

Among the factors considered for this scholarship award, an emphasis was placed on a demonstrated commitment to public service. This made Joe Spano a perfect choice! Joe has been a leader in APIL (Advocates for Public Interest Law) and IJM (International Justice Mission) and has been the fearless leader of our Sack Lunch Saturday program for the Malibu Community Labor Exchange this year.

The growth and good work of the International Justice Mission is fascinating. “IJM” (as it is popularly known) now enjoys immense popularity on college campuses as students interested in social justice dream of working for justice around the world.

IJM founder, President & CEO, Gary Haugen, is an inspiration to many, and Pepperdine is honored to be one of two law schools that Gary takes the time out of his busy schedule to teach at each year–Pepperdine, and his alma mater, the University of Chicago.

Gary has been here this week to teach his course, “International Criminal Law, Human Rights, and the Development of the Rule of Law.” In addition, he graciously attended a Bible study hosted by the Christian Legal Society student organization on Wednesday night to speak to the students. His message came via a conversation with his co-teacher and the host of the Wednesday night Bible study, Professor Jim Gash.

Gary’s contribution to Pepperdine Law is a great blessing to many of our students.

This afternoon, the School of Law gets the opportunity to honor Carol Shadrick on her retirement. Carol has been leading our fiscal and administrative services for literally decades, and her wonderful presence in the law school community will be greatly missed. Still, we celebrate with her on this new phase of life!

The picture above is of most of the staff and a few faculty members with Carol. We took the picture yesterday: It combines the view out Carol’s office window and the faces of so many who love her!

If you wonder how crazy things will be without Carol, the picture below does a pretty good job of communicating it:

The SBA put together a fantastic dodgeball tournament last Friday afternoon, and as pictured above, a team of upper-division students called The Dodging Patriots–Michael, Caroline, Kelsey, Tim, Ben, and Scott–emerged as champions. We (unfortunately) don’t have statistics for champions, but I’m pretty sure nobody can top Michael, Caroline, and Scott in winning TWO championships during their law school years. Those three also won the tournament when they were 1Ls two years ago!

Here are some more great pictures from the tournament courtesy of Macalee Taylor, our Events Coordinator at the law school: